TERRITORIALS.

Evening Star, Issue 15076, 7 January 1913, Page 3

TERRITORIALS.

[By (jKiRMiSHva.] Items of interest concerning Corps (Town and Country), Shooting, and Territorial notes generally will he accepted. Copy, addressed to “Skirmisher,” should■ be in hand not later than Monday morning. The latest orders contain the following complete lust of officers of the Coast Defence Detachment:—Lieutenant-colonel IV. <l. Strong; second in command, Major J. A'. P. Fredric; A Company—Captain P. Dnull, Second Lieutenants P. Keligher and J- 11. M'Keefry ; B Company—Lieutenant D. Cooke, Second Lieutenants H. R. Kerr and J. Metcalfe : C Company—Lieutenant D. White, Second Lieutenants D. Sherxitf and C. E. Gilbert: D Company—Lieutenant R. Jones and Second Lieutenants I’. Spiers and A. M'Doiigall. A large number of Cadet officers are taking part in the camp of instruction at present being conducted by Captain Thoms, N.Z.S C., at the Taiaroa Heads. Should the present fine, weather continue, a lot or good work will, be gone through, and the officers attend!-.g will benefit to a considerable extent from the information gained. Ihe naval and military tournament hold at Christchurch is now a thing of the past, but one cannot help feeling that the preparation for the various events has done an immense amount of good in smartening up our Territorials. I cannot remember any tournament rn New Zealand which lias caused greater interest than the one recently held at Christchurch. The weather was all that could be desired, and the tournament each day was patronised by thousands of spectators, who took the keenest interest possible in the proceedings. 'The daily programme commenced at 8.30 a.m., and was continued till after 5 p.m. Whilst the various items were on, tire scene of constant activity was enlivened by the. strains of music by the Lyttelton Marino Band and the Senior Cadet Band from Burnham. The musical double ride by C Squadron, Ist Mounted Rifles (Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry), was one of the most interesting events, the troops Dueling with repeated applause from the f-pee tutors for their fine display, and it may be stated that their drill compared very favorably with that of the Imperial troops. The musical drive by F, Battery. New Zealand Field Artillery’, was one of the features of the tournament, their movement s being carried out with precision and correctness, showing that the gunners were well conversant with all the minute details of their work, and the manner in which they handled their teams of horses was highly commented upon. The physical drill of many hundred Cadets, under Ser-.geant-major Parkes, met with approval, os the young soldiers performed their exercises in a keen and energetic manner, and in doing so carried out ail the movements with exactitude, as laid down in the recognised manual of physical training. The discipline of the numerous squads as they paraded prior to the combined display was all that could be desired, and from the manner in which they went through their drill one could easily see that the lads had been carefully trained, and bad received good instruction from their superiors. Their soldierly appearance and fine physique, were very noticeable. Daily at 2 p.m. Ire troops in camp marched past, the saluting point being at the grand stand. Mary on the stand remarked that a feature to.the credit of all on parade was that not one man was out of step. The Cadet items were keenly contested, and the judges had some difficulty m making their awards. In the squad drill competition some six teams were recalled. It should be mentioned that there were over 30 entries for this competition. The tent pitching and striking (Senior Cadets) received some 22 _ This was an item in which the competition was very keen and close, and evoked general interest by the spectators. The Dunedin Cadets were unsuccessful in the physical exercise events, although out of 24 entries the. Engineers, St. Andrew Cadets, North-east Valley, and the St. Kilda Cadets were well to the fore, and only lost trophies by a small margin. The Momington Cadets were amongst the recalls in the squad drill competition, and the Hibernian Cadets in the rifle exercises. The Territorials from Dunedin had many keen representative teams. The H Company, 4th Regiment, were successful in securing second place in the physical drill competition. The coast defence team also gave a good exhibition of drill in the rffie exercise competition. Bugler Maxwell, 4th Regiment, gained a thud prize for bugling. In this competition there were 23 entries. The competition for Engineers was very keen, the competing teams being those from Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington. The B Battery, Dun- , edin, gained two second prizes, and were a credit to the district from which they hail. There were many items in which competitors from Dunedin took part, but space will not permit of more. However, it should be stated that the majority of the competitors who went from Dunedin are already talking about the next tournament to be held in Auckland, and from the remarks made I gather that Dunedin will be well represented, and the number who will seek selection will be greater than those who went to Christchurch. During the tournament Major-general Godley was present, and expressed his approval with many of the events. A 'a.-ge number of staff officers from various paila of New Zealand were also present. Now that the holidays are over, all units will resume active work almost immedis.tely. The musketry course on the range will be gone on with, the first unit to do this work being Ihe Infantry Signal Corps. Afternoon parades will be held tins month, with a view to getting in the required number as early as possible in the New Year. The annual camp of instruction will be held in the course of a few weeks, -■and altogether Territorial units will have a busy time during the next few months. Lieutenant Roberts (sth Regiment) has designed a very suitable type of field ov-m for carrying on a waggon, capable of cooking fc.-i 600 men. which can be procured at a reasonable cost. The general officer commanding considers that these ovens might be provided from regimental funds, or by the assistance of honorary Territorial associations, etc.

The grand military display given in the Christchurch barracks cn Boxing Night xvas a pronounced success, and drew a large audience. -The musical ride and .musical drive were the principal items of interest, and other events included a tug-of-war (North Island v South Island), wrestling on horseback (Navy v. CavahySnen), blind told boxing, tilting the bucket, entl a display of observatory building by tec Christchurch Engineers. It has bton decided to uff-u* a number of commissions as lieutenants to warrant officeis and staff sergoants-major of tho New Zealand Permanent Staff. A competitive ext rnmation will be held, and those desir. ous of competing are sending in th-ur names to headquarters. The .syllabus for the examination embraces the' following subjects;—AVritten : Dictation, compost tion, geography of the British Empire, eleme.tary tactics, field fortifications, in fin. trv tra rung cavahy training, mbita, - « law administration and organisation of the New Zealand military forces, musketry and gunneiy. Pf itcicrl: Drill a.-cl duties in tho field, map reading, elementary tactical exercises, .ruiskei. y, and care and mesorvation of equipment. The examination is a stiff one, and those N.C.O.s who gain the commissions will thoroughly deserve them.